A member of the Padres in 2013, Miles Mikolas was looking forward to coming home. He had pitched against his hometown team at Petco Park a season earlier, and now the Padres were headed to Marlins Park. They would make the trip without him.

Five days earlier, the Padres optioned Mikolas back to the minors. He wouldn’t have to wait long to pitch in South Florida as a major leaguer.

Now with the Texas Rangers, Mikolas will start Tuesday’s two-game series opener against the Marlins in Little Havana. Born in Jupiter, Mikolas is a product of Nova Southeastern and attended Marlins' spring training and regular season games growing up.

“I’m excited,” he told the Dallas Morning News. “Any time you’re away from home for six months it’s nice to see your friends and family. Some old high-school and college coaches probably are going to come down, so that’ll be good, too.

“Kids that I played with are grown up. It’ll be neat to see how far we’ve all come. For me to be the one kid who’s living his dream and keeps living his dream every day by playing, that means something.”

A reliever with the Padres in 2012-13, Mikolas in eight starts with the Rangers has produced great road numbers and horrid home stats. In away games, Mikolas is 1-2 with a 2.92 ERA and .186 opponents’ batting average on the road compared to an 0-4 record, 13.73 ERA and .385 batting average against at Globe Life Park in Arlington.